15 Most Valuable 2018 Topps Baseball Cards
The 2018 Topps baseball card set will likely remain one of the most popular of its era for a long, long time for two reasons: Shohei Ohtani and Ronald Acuña Jr. There are several good rookie cards in the 700-card checkliSt. But none of them stack up to those two guys.
As both continue setting records and putting up eye-popping numbers, they have easily set themselves apart from the rest of the pack.
And if their careers continue on their current trajectories, both will likely go down in history as two of the game’s greatest players.
That is especially true of Shohei Ohtani.
Not since Babe Ruth has baseball seen a player who could dominate both as a pitcher and hitter.
Time will tell how far these guys can climb but, for now, they headline a solid checkliSt. And in this guide, we’ll take a look at the 15 most valuable.
Let’s jump right in!
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Ross Uitts – Owner
- #1
2018 Topps #698 Ronald Acuña Jr. Rookie Card
Rookie CardPSA 10 Value $650Total PSA PopulationPSA 10 PopulationPSA 10 Grade Rate 0.0% (Set Avg: 0.0%)The second half of the 2018 season was the Ronald Acuna Jr. Show.
Acuna’s campaign started not so great.
Ranked as the #1 prospect in baseball by multiple publications, the 20-year-old Atlanta Braves outfielder was sent down to Triple-A to start the year for obvious contractual reasons.
Acuna was ultimately called up on April 25th and impressed for a few weeks before hitting the disabled list with a left ACL sprain.
When he returned, Acuna tweaked his swing mechanics to put himself in good positions for a breakout second half.
And wow, what a half.
Moved to the leadoff spot by Braves manager Brian Snitker, Acuna hit .322 with 19 home runs in 68 second-half games.
He hit eight leadoff home runs (second-most by a rookie in MLB history) and posted the third-best OPS in the NL (1.028) after the break.
Acuna’s dazzling dance to the finish lifted the Braves to a previously unthinkable NL East title and pushed him past Washington’s Juan Soto for NL Rookie-of-the-Year honors.
You might be surprised that Acuña’s card is more valuable than Ohtani’s.
Technically, this is an “SP” variation while his true base rookie card appears in 2018 Topps Update.
And Ryan Sherriff’s base rookie holds down the standard #698 slot in the 2018 Topps checkliSt. Normally, I wouldn’t include an SP variation on a list of base cards like this but, given it’s Acuña Jr. and kind of a quirk in the checklist overall, I’ll make an exception.
- #2
2018 Topps #700 Shohei Ohtani Rookie Card
Rookie CardPSA 10 Value $180Total PSA PopulationPSA 10 PopulationPSA 10 Grade Rate 0.0% (Set Avg: 0.0%)When you’re a candidate for the most impactful baseball player of a generation, it’s easy to hold yourself to standards no one else would.
Los Angeles Angels rookie Shohei Ohtani made the most anticipated debut of the decade in 2018, leaving five All-Star seasons in Japan behind to shake up Major League Baseball.
And that’s just what he did.
The 23-year-old phenom immediately announced himself as a two-way unicorn, a one-of-one.
He hit .285 with a .925 OPS in 104 games while flashing top-line starter stuff in ten starts on the bump, posting a 4-2 record with a 3.31 ERA, 1.161 WHIP, and 63 strikeouts in 51.2 innings.
Ohtani landed 25 of a possible 30 votes to take home AL Rookie of the Year going away.
But he wasn’t satisfied.
The Angels failed to make the playoffs yet again at 80-82, and Ohtani held himself responsible for an injury-plagued campaign that cut his time short on the mound and at the plate.
“Putting numbers aside, I was kind of disappointed I wasn’t able to play a full season,” Ohtani said.
“I feel like elite players should be able to play the full year and help out the team.
That’s something that I need to work on.”
- #3
2018 Topps #1 Aaron Judge
PSA 10 Value $35Total PSA PopulationPSA 10 PopulationPSA 10 Grade Rate 0.0% (Set Avg: 0.0%)An errant fastball may have cost the New York Yankees the AL East in 2018.
Fresh off his breathtaking 2017 AL Rookie-of-the-Year campaign (complete with an MVP runner-up), Aaron Judge remained in stride to start the 2018 campaign.
The 26-year-old right fielder entered the final week of July hitting .285 with team bests in home runs (28), RBIs (61), and OPS (.947).
Just 4.5 games behind Boston for the division, the Yankees banked on the one-two punch of Judge and Giancarlo Stanton to chase down their hated rivals.
What happened was pretty unlucky.
Judge took a Jacob Junis fastball off the right wrist in the first inning of a July 25th showdown with Kansas City.
He sustained a chip fracture and was forced out of the lineup for a month and a half.
It proved costly.
The Yanks dropped four straight to the Red Sox at Fenway in early August and never seriously challenged for the division from then on.
Judge returned in September, finishing the year 12th in the AL MVP race with a .278/.392/.528 slash line, 27 home runs, and 67 RBIs in 112 regular-season games.
- #4
2018 Topps #90 Miguel Cabrera
PSA 10 Value $30Total PSA PopulationPSA 10 PopulationPSA 10 Grade Rate 0.0% (Set Avg: 0.0%)Nothing went right for Miguel Cabrera in 2018.
In fact, it all went horribly, disastrously wrong.
The year prior, Cabrera had the worst season of his Hall-of-Fame run so far, posting a sub-replacement level OPS+ (93) for the first time in his decade-and-a-half-long career.
The Detroit Tigers first baseman dedicated himself to better health in the offseason and came into the 2018 season looking like the top-shelf hitter he’d been for so long.
The results agreed.
The guy who’d led the league four times in on-base percentage was again getting on board at an elite clip (.395).
It would have been an All-Star-caliber season if it had lasted.
On April 29th, the 35-year-old injured his left biceps and missed three games.
Shortly after, he landed on the disabled list with a hamstring issue.
After clearing yet another health hurdle, Cabrera saw his season come to an abrupt end on June 12th when he ruptured his previously injured left biceps on a swing.
Cabrera played only 38 games in ’18, hitting .299 with a .843 OPS, three home runs, 11 doubles, and 22 RBIs in 157 plate appearances.
- #5
2018 Topps #140 Mookie Betts
PSA 10 Value $30Total PSA PopulationPSA 10 PopulationPSA 10 Grade Rate 0.0% (Set Avg: 0.0%) - #6
2018 Topps #510 Freddie Freeman
PSA 10 Value $30Total PSA PopulationPSA 10 PopulationPSA 10 Grade Rate 0.0% (Set Avg: 0.0%) - #7
2018 Topps #582 Albert Pujols
PSA 10 Value $30Total PSA PopulationPSA 10 PopulationPSA 10 Grade Rate 0.0% (Set Avg: 0.0%)At some point, Albert Pujols’ body was gonna give.
It just happened to occur in 2018.
Since moving to Anaheim from St. Louis in 2012, the future Hall-of-Fame slugger suffered a litany of lower leg issues while providing diminishing returns.
It was no different as he slogged through the 2018 campaign with the Halos.
“Albert is one of the most durable players I’ve ever seen or been around,” Angels GM Billy Eppler said.
“I don’t know if there was a day this season that you would have said he’s 100 percent, but he plays through a lot.” Pujols was forced over to first base for most of his 2018 season to accommodate Shohei Ohtani, and his legs took a beating.
It showed in his hitting most of all.
The 38-year-old posted a sub-replacement level OPS+ (91) for the second consecutive season.
On August 29th, the Halos shut Pujols down for left knee surgery.
It ended one of his most taxing and disappointing seasons, in which Pujols slashed .245/.289/.411 with 19 home runs and 64 RBIs in 117 games.
- #8
2018 Topps #350 Clayton Kershaw
PSA 10 Value $25Total PSA PopulationPSA 10 PopulationPSA 10 Grade Rate 0.0% (Set Avg: 0.0%)Here’s a wild stat to show you just how dominant Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw was during the first decade of his career.
2018 was the first time in Kershaw’s ten-year career thus far that his career ERA went up following the regular season.
He started the campaign with a 2.36 mark and watched it inflate to 2.39 by season’s end.
That’s wild in and of itself.
What’s wilder is if Kershaw had qualified for the NL ERA lead in ’18, he would have finished fourth at 2.73.
A rough campaign for Clayton Kershaw is a career performance for nearly anyone else.
The 30-year-old lefty was forced out for most of May and June with arm and back injuries and was just a tick below his Cy Young capabilities otherwise.
He finished the year 9-5 for the 92-win NL West champs with 155 strikeouts and a 1.041 WHIP in 161.1 innings.
Not bad for a bad year.
However, the really awful stuff came in the World Series.
Kershaw took the L in both Game 1 and Game 3 against Boston, surrendering nine earned runs, 14 hits, and three homers in just 11.0 innings.
The Dodgers couldn’t recover and fell to the Sox four games to one.
- #9
2018 Topps #400 Jose Altuve
PSA 10 Value $25Total PSA PopulationPSA 10 PopulationPSA 10 Grade Rate 0.0% (Set Avg: 0.0%) - #10
2018 Topps #450 Joey Votto
PSA 10 Value $25Total PSA PopulationPSA 10 PopulationPSA 10 Grade Rate 0.0% (Set Avg: 0.0%) - #11
2018 Topps #300 Mike Trout
PSA 10 Value $20Total PSA PopulationPSA 10 PopulationPSA 10 Grade Rate 0.0% (Set Avg: 0.0%)Maybe Mike Trout should have his own separate MVP award.
In 2018, the Los Angeles Angeles legend-in-waiting finished second in the AL Most Valuable Award race for a fourth time, tying him with Stan Musial and Ted Williams for the most all-time.
And Trout did this before even sniffing his 30th birthday.
The 28-year-old center fielder deserved his third trophy, but that’s the curse of being great on a different level.
Trout led the Majors in on-base percentage (.460), OPS (1.088), OPS+ (198), and intentional walks (25).
He also topped the AL in walks (122) while posting 39 home runs, 101 runs scored, 24 stolen bases, and 79 RBIs in 140 games.
Trout also earned a Gold Glove nomination for the first time since 2015, posting plus-8 Defensive Runs Saved.
It was Trout’s best year on a resume chock full of historic seasons, but it wasn’t enough to usurp Betts.
The Red Sox star was the end-all, be-all for baseball’s best team and eventual World Series champs.
Trout, on the other hand, put up monstrous numbers on an otherwise mediocre Angels squad.
- #12
2018 Topps #18 Rafael Devers Rookie Card
Rookie CardPSA 10 Value $17Total PSA PopulationPSA 10 PopulationPSA 10 Grade Rate 0.0% (Set Avg: 0.0%) - #13
2018 Topps #276 Ozzie Albies Rookie Card
Rookie CardPSA 10 Value $17Total PSA PopulationPSA 10 PopulationPSA 10 Grade Rate 0.0% (Set Avg: 0.0%)Ozzie Albies made his big-league debut in 2017 for the Atlanta Braves as the youngest player in the Majors.
The 20-year-old was up to the task and ended his 57-game debut with a .810 OPS and an impressive 110 OPS+.
He also built up plenty of anticipation for his first full campaign in 2018.
It proved well worth the offseason wait.
Albies had a sizzling first half for the 90-win NL East champs, hitting .281 with 18 home runs and 50 RBIs through the first week of July.
The excitement of his 2017 call-up carried over flawlessly, and Albies was selected to his first All-Star Game by player vote.
In the second half, Albies hit a wall.
His batting average dipped under .250 the rest of the way, dropping his slash line to .261/.305/.452 by season’s end.
He hit just six home runs with 22 RBIs from the second week of July on.
Albies concluded his 2018 with a rough 3-for-15 performance in a four-game NLDS loss to the Dodgers.
It was a predictable wall to hit for a young player trudging through his first 162-game season.
- #14
2018 Topps #177 Walker Buehler Rookie Card
Rookie CardPSA 10 Value $10Total PSA PopulationPSA 10 PopulationPSA 10 Grade Rate 0.0% (Set Avg: 0.0%)Walker Buehler introduced himself as an ace-in-waiting during the 2018 regular season.
By the end of the World Series, the wait was over.
Following a spotty 2017 cup of coffee, Buehler joined the legendary Clayton Kershaw in the rotation and never looked out of place.
The 23-year-old started 23 regular-season games for the NL West champs, finishing 8-5 with a 2.62 ERA, 0.961 WHIP, and just 95 hits against 151 strikeouts in 137.1 innings.
In the playoffs, Buehler followed three up-and-down outings with an iconic World Series debut.
After dropping the first two to the Red Sox in Boston, LA desperately needed a pick-me-up.
Buehler answered with seven scoreless innings of two-hit ball.
He joined Roger Clemens (2000) and Don Larsen (1956) as the only pitchers in World Series history to throw seven or more scoreless frames with two hits or fewer and zero walks.
“Some guys run from it.
Some guys can’t answer the bell,” manager Dave Roberts said.
“But this guy, he’s got an overt confidence, a quiet confidence, a little combo.” The Dodgers ended up winning 3-2 in an 18-inning marathon, their only victory in a five-game Series loss.
- #15
2018 Topps #594 Sandy Alcantara Rookie Card
Rookie CardPSA 10 Value $10Total PSA PopulationPSA 10 PopulationPSA 10 Grade Rate 0.0% (Set Avg: 0.0%)In December 2017, future NL Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara was traded from St. Louis to Miami as part of the return for slugger Marcell Ozuna.
A former undrafted free agent, Alcantara steadily climbed the Cardinals’ organizational ladder to his debut for the big-league club in 2017.
Touted as the #6 prospect in the organization, the Dominican Republic native struck out ten over eight innings in relief.
It was a small sample size, yet it was enough for the Marlins to jump at acquiring him.
Alcantara spent most of the 2018 season on the cusp of a call-up, posting a 6-3 record with a 3.89 ERA at Triple-A New Orleans.
Alcantara received a temporary promotion on June 29, earning the dub against the Mets with five innings of one-run ball.
After a short injury rehab and a final stint in New Orleans, Alcantara returned to South Beach in September, this time, to stay.
The 22-year-old righty posted five starts in the season’s final month and spun two outings of seven scoreless innings.
There were still plenty of kinks to work out, but Alcantara was on his way to becoming a rotation mainstay.
Ross’s Take
With 350 cards apiece in Series 1 and Series 2, both offer many great-looking cards for collectors to enjoy.
However, there is no question that hobbyists are far more attracted to Series 2.
How could they not be?
With rookie cards of two generational talents in Shohei Ohtani and Ronald Acuña Jr., it’s one of the most celebrated series in recent memory.
There were also mutliple subsets, including: League Leaders All-Star Rookies Future Stars Award Winners Combo Cards World Series Highlights As expeted, there are tons of great inserts, parallels, relics, and autograph cards to boost collector intereSt. Some of my favorite inserts were the tributes to 1983 Topps, Superstar Sensations, Topps Salute and MLB Awards.
The Topps Reverance and one-of-one cut signatures are among the top autographs you’ll find.
As usual, the checklist also contains plenty of short print variations, a staple of most modern Topps baseball set designs.
Still, despite all of the bells and whistles that come with the parallels, inserts, memorabilia and autographed, most collectors will always flock to this set for the Ohtani and Acuña Jr. rookies alone.
Not every set will contain generational rookie cards.
And it’s even rarer to have two.
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